poem for joe

I’m a bit frightened 

where the idea came from 

to go to the Cliffs of Dover 

with some random guy from Tinder —

and it terrified me that

for those few hours

I forgot how 

to hide

or lie

or flinch

and so when Joe looked 

he also saw me

and when Joe listened

he also heard me 

and when Joe reached out

he also touched me. 

we talked for hours

there was a kindness in his musings

there was a mercy in all of his judgments 

and if he would have called me Adam

my head would have turned 

to answer him 

at that very instant 

for you cannot tell me 

the garden of eden

is not on a cliff in Kent

and you cannot tell me 

I did not wash 

my sins away that day

in the English Channel 

neither can I tell you 

if God or if true love 

or if hell exist

But I can tell you one thing there is a Heaven, here on earth

and yes it may be fleeting 

it may only last a few hours! 

but there is a heaven 

in the goodness 

waiting to be found

in each other